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#2 complicated situation. it appears the number of captives being held in the gas installation may have originally been in the hundreds. Possibly at least 60 people still unaccounted for, and by no means are all terrorists dead. original reports on this situation were very confused and misleading. but on the positive side ... it does appear that professional Western teams have arrived to resolve the problem.

#4 this could be a "terminology thing". but when the Algerian Govt makes an announcement to the world that an incident is over .... there's not supposed to be any terrorists still active. maybe someone should point that out to them :-)

we should all say a prayer that whatever special teams arrived at this place - they get a good resolution. a lot of lives are still at stake.

#5 With a hostage situation created by terrorists, IMHO, you have a tactical problem and a big picture strategic issue.

The tactical problem involves containing the terrorists and performing a rescue of hostages with the least loss of life to hostages. The main consideration is to rescue hostages safely but not to let the terrorists get away. These are often conflicting goals.

The strategic considerations involve who or what organization or state is directing/supporting/financing this activity. It seems to me that going after this center of gravity will pay the best return in the long run. We are not talking arclight or big shows, we are talking about working smarter in smaller but deadly operations to cut off the brain to this whole activity, and to send a message that doing these activities will result in organizations and individuals being PERSONALLY hurt, wives, kids, and their little dog, too. Psychopaths do not care about others as they have no capability of empathy. However, they will back off if they are PERSONALLY hurt. That is how you communicate with them.

We have tons of really clever, deadly, and ingenious tools for this activity in our kit. What we lack is the strategic goals and objectives and the WILL to use them. That is the thing we must get squared away in order to survive and win.

In this case, the Algerian govt is running the show. Hope they learn from this experience, or there will be more.

#6 it looks like - in this case - the terrorists got "on top of the show" during their initial attack. their initial move into the BP installation was so effective ... that you've got to speculate that it was an inside job. somebody had scouted the BP facility for them, and may have even opened the perimeter gates. that kind of thing will be a problem in the energy fields of Africa ... you're never really sure who's who in your workforce.

as far as getting to the top-level financiers and directors of these operations ... I definitely agree. there's a hierarchy operating behind the scenes that needs to be cut out with a scalpel. But the problem is that these are influential people in places like Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Washington DC may not feel it's got the guts or the leverage to render these people powerless.